LISTEN A MINUTE.com Gossip http://www.listenaminute.com/g/gossip.html One minute a day is all you need to improve your listening skills. Focus on new words, grammar and pronunciation in this short text. Doing the online activities, discussion, survey and writing will help. Listen many times enough for you to you understand everything. Follow me: http://twitter.com/seanbanville
THE LISTENING TAPESCRIPT I hate gossip. It really gets on my nerves. I really don t understand why people gossip about other people. My office is full of gossips. They have nothing better to do. Surely there are more important things to talk about. Gossip isn t true. That s why it s gossip. OK, it might be true, but who cares? Gossiping is dangerous. It can make perfectly nice people look bad. I m not sure if I ve been the subject of gossip. I m sure I wouldn t like it if I was. I have some friends who buy gossip magazines. They love celebrity gossip. That s even worse than office gossip. At least with office gossip you know the people. Any time someone comes to me to tell me the latest piece of juicy gossip or hot gossip, I tell them I m not interested. 2
LISTENING GAP FILL I hate gossip. It really nerves. I really don t understand why people other people. My office is full of gossips. They have nothing. Surely there are more important things to talk about. Gossip isn t true. That s why it s gossip. OK, it might be true,? Gossiping is dangerous. It can make perfectly nice people look bad. I m I ve been gossip. I m sure I wouldn t like it if I was. I have some friends who buy gossip magazines. They love celebrity gossip. That s office gossip. At least with office gossip you know the people. someone tell me the latest piece of or hot gossip, I tell them I m not interested. 3
CORRECT THE SPELLING I hate gossip. It really gets on my erevns. I really don t understand why people gossip about other people. My ecfoif is full of gossips. They have nothing better to do. Surely there are more opniatmrt things to talk about. Gossip isn t true. That s why it s gossip. OK, it might be true, but who rcaes? Gossiping is dangerous. It can make tylepefcr nice people look bad. I m not sure if I ve been the eutscjb of gossip. I m sure I wouldn t like it if I was. I have some friends who buy gossip magazines. They love tireycleb gossip. That s even sewro than office gossip. At least with office gossip you know the people. Any time someone comes to me to tell me the tatels piece of yciuj gossip or hot gossip, I tell them I m not interested. 4
UNJUMBLE THE WORDS I hate gossip. on gets really It nerves my. I really don t understand people why people other about gossip. My office is full of gossips. better nothing have They do to. Surely important things to talk about there are more. Gossip isn t true. That s why it s gossip. OK, it might be true, but who cares? Gossiping is dangerous. It can make bad people perfectly look nice. I m not sure if I ve been the subject of gossip. sure if I I wouldn t was like I m it. I have some friends who buy gossip magazines. They love celebrity gossip. worse even That s gossip office than. At least with office gossip you know the people. Any time me to comes someone the me tell to latest piece of juicy gossip or hot gossip, I tell them I m not interested. 5
DISCUSSION (Write your own questions) STUDENT A s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Copyright www.listenaminute.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DISCUSSION (Write your own questions) STUDENT B s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 6
STUDENT GOSSIP SURVEY Write five GOOD questions about gossip in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers. STUDENT 1 STUDENT 2 STUDENT 3 Q.1. Q.2. Q.3. Q.4. Q.5. Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often. Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings. 7
WRITING Write about gossip for 10 minutes. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other s work. 8
HOMEWORK 1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET INFO: Search the Internet and find more information about gossip. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about gossip. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles. 4. GOSSIP POSTER Make a poster about gossip. Show it to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your posters. 5. MY GOSSIP LESSON: Make your own English lesson on gossip. Make sure there is a good mix of things to do. Find some good online activities. Teach the class / another group when you have finished. 6. ONLINE SHARING: Use your blog, wiki, Facebook page, MySpace page, Twitter stream, Del-icio-us / StumbleUpon account, or any other social media tool to get opinions on gossip. Share your findings with the class. 9